Zack's Torment
by prettylittlepinklady
Summary: Bailey and Maya join Zack and Cody on their last spring break of high school only to be met with a horrible fate…
1. Spring Break

"Go Faster, Zack!" Bailey called with a laugh from the backseat where she was sitting with her legs across Cody's lap. In the front seat, Maya was leaning across the centre to cling to her boyfriend. It was their last spring break as students of Seven Seas High and they were living it up to the fullest. Kurt had paid for the four of them to hire a car and drive down the west coast to Florida and fly back home in time for school to start. As the best driver out of the four, Zack was to do most of the driving and he was currently occupying the driver's seat, laughing at something Maya was whispering in his ear.

"Hold on!" The normally logical and calm Bailey and Cody laughed and did as told as Zack pressed down harder on the accelerator. The excitement of Spring Break had taken over and the only thing that was in their head was the sound of laughter.

The car they had hired was a convertible and since the weather was so nice, they had the top down and the girls had their arms up, waving them around in the breeze. A while ago, Maya had turned up the radio, pop music blasting from the speakers. Behind them trails of laughter and music floated in the air. It was like a scene from a movie.

"Hey Maya, turn it up!" Cody called hearing his favourite song come on and Maya briefly let go of her boyfriend to do as asked. They began to sing along at the tops of their voices, interspersing it with laughter, being the carefree teens they were.

They sped down the highway, leaving the ship and the rest of their friends far behind them, heading to a week of fun and laughter. Not one of them had a care in the world and so they didn't have a reason to believe anything would happen when a truck coming from the opposite direction began to glide slowly over into their lane. Feeling daring, Zack decided to play chicken, pressing down harder on the accelerator as Maya closed the roof, not wanting to smell the diesel from the truck as they went past, urged on by the other three laughing and cheering. Taking his eyes off the road for a second to grin at his girlfriend never should have been such a life changing event but that was all it took for him to not realise that the truck wasn't moving away and they were too close, going to fast to avoid a collision.

Three separate phone calls were made that night from the brightly lit scene. It seemed a hundred floodlights were directed towards the small convertible that was partly buried underneath the huge truck. Inside the truck, a paramedic was still attempting to calm down the driver who had apparently fallen asleep and only woken when he felt the impact of the car hit the truck. Four ambulances sat waiting to scream off with the teens from the convertible once they were freed from the wreck. From the outside it already seemed bad for the trapped teens. The car was completely totalled, the roof caving in and glass from all the windows scattered everywhere. There was no sound from inside at all and paramedics feared the worst.


	2. Carnage

Zack struggled to open his eyes. His head was pounding and he could feel warmth trickling down his face. There was little room to move and he could barely hear anything over the sounds of a dozen or so police and ambulance sirens blaring, much as he strained to hear movement from the other three in the car.

He could still feel Maya's arms clinging to him as they had been but he couldn't see her face, even when he managed to turn his head slightly. All he could see was the blood dripping down her arm from thousands of cuts. He had no view at all of his brother or Bailey and couldn't hear anything either. Tears welled up as he realised they were here because of him. Suddenly he felt someone tugging on his arm from outside.

"Sir? Can you hear me sir?" A voice reached his ears over the hub-bub going on and he fumbled around in his mind for a minute to remember how to speak.

"Help me! My brother and our girlfriends are in here!" He called.

"Just hold on, sir. We'll have you out of there in no time." The voice sounded too cheery for the time but he ignored that, focussing on willing Maya or Cody or Bailey to make a sound. A noise like a chainsaw sounded moments later and he heard them begin to cut through the car to free the trapped teens and it wasn't long before Zack had to squeeze his eyes shut from the blinding light. As he did, he could feel himself begin to drift off, floating aimlessly. He vaguely felt someone pull him free of the wreck and put him on a stretcher. They had almost shut the doors on the ambulance when he heard shouts coming from the car. Even though he was half unconscious, he wanted to get up and run over to see what they were yelling about but the darkness was pulling him deeper and eventually took over.


	3. Waking Up

A loud beeping was the first thing he heard when he began to regain consciousness. There was a bright light shining behind his closed eyes and he was reluctant to open them. A hand was clasped in his own and he was attempting to feel who it was but was unsuccessful. After a moment he decided he was fighting a, losing battle and slowly opened his eyes.

"Finally. Oh, Zack you scared me." His mother's voice echoed in his head and he turned to look at her.

"Mom." He had no idea what to expect from her. He was the one who had caused the accident and he was the one to blame for the death of his brother and their girlfriends.

"Oh honey, I've been so worried about you."

"What about Cody? He was there too." To his surprise, he heard another voice from the other side of his bed.

"I might not be completely fine, but I'm alive."

"Cody!" Suddenly, Zack felt tears well up in his eyes again and he began to sob. Beside him, Carey fluttered her hands uselessly over her eldest son's broken body, unsure whether to hug him or not. Her dilemma was solved though, when Cody took hold of his brother's hand, squeezing it comfortingly.

"Zack, stop crying. You're here and so am I."

"But what about the girls? They were in that car too and more at risk because they weren't sitting how they should have been." Zack still couldn't actually see his brother and so didn't see the uncomfortable look he got but he definitely heard the undertone of his voice.

"The doctors are keeping a close eye on both of them. Because of the way she was sitting, Maya is possibly in the worst condition." Zacks heart clenched. It would serve him right to lose the love of his life. He was the one driving the car and should have been the one who refused to do the stupid stunts.

"What about me? I still don't know what's painful and what's not."

"Well, you've been in a coma for about a week because you got a nasty knock to the head. And your left leg is broken in several places. It took them a while to figure out how many broken ribs you had but they've come to the conclusion that there's two broken and three fractured. The rest are bruised. As well as internal injuries, you've got stitches in several places up your arms and legs from glass shards cutting the skin." Carey informed him and he nodded. He wanted to sit up so he could see Cody so he began to wriggle, pushing his head further up the pillow. It took a moment for Carey to realise what he wanted but when she did, she reached behind him and pressed a button on the wall, making the bed tilt up gently.

"I guess I can't hide anymore, huh?" Cody said in a whisper when Zack was finally able to see him. He looked horrible, scars covering his face and his right arm in a cast. There were huge circles under his eyes like he hadn't slept for weeks. His left arm was covered in cuts that had been stitched up as well and he was sitting in a wheelchair.

"Cody, the wheelchair…?" Zack trailed off, not wanting to voice the rest of his question.

"It's not permanent. At least they hope not. For now, I'm partly paralysed from the hips down but they're hoping that with a lot of physical therapy, I'll be able to walk again eventually." He sounded so calm about it, like it was something that was no different. Zack couldn't help but begin to cry again. "Zack, don't do that. We both need to be strong for the girls and we can't do that if you're breaking down in sobs every five seconds."

"Cody…" Carey chastised.

"No, he's right mom. I need to be strong. I may have caused all this but I'll never forgive myself if I just become a weak kid crying in the corner and do nothing to help Maya."


End file.
